If you have the hormones under control, laser is effective but not overnight. I stopped for financial reasons. I did maybe 6-8 treatments with 1 electrolysis treatment and my hair is now 50% less than it was. In the first week, I went every other to every 3rd day and then it spaced out to 5 days in between. You have to let the hair grow (for LHE laser) contrary to what you may have read. I have no scarring and it was not too bad pain wise. Electrolysis hurt more.

I was told not to pluck at all and only to shave with a lady shaver so you are not removing the hair below the skin. It helped the redness that I used to get with my standard razor in the shower.

I was on spironolactone 200mg for 6 months before starting as well as on the pill.

I've purchased a groupon for 6 laser hair removal treatments, and I'm scared to get them done. I've just been kind of sitting on it and waiting until I'm brave enough to go do it.
Reading that it works well encourages me to get a little closer to making the decision.
My facial hair, I know it sounds silly, hold me back from so make things in life. It grows so bad that I'm like "Man, I can't stay the night with my friends, what if they see my girl beard before I can get to the shower in the morning"
I hate that feeling.
I want to go on mission trips and my hold back is the fear of going days without being able to shave.
It's so sad.

__________________I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.
Psalm 119:32

My doc said that facial hair problem will be solved if my androgen hormone levels go down. Hirsutism is associated with high levels of androgen and this hormone is responsible for hair growing. Although your androgen hormone levels in a normal range, it will take at least 6 months to get rid of hair problem because hair follicles are renewed within 6 months.

Something I have been wondering about for a while. If you get the PCOS under control and your hormones start to normalize, do the dark, coarse chin hairs go back to being light hairs--back to normal, in other words? Or are you stuck with them (and the waxing, tweezing, etc.) for life? Anybody know?

In my case: NO It did not go back to normal. Now I'm trying IPL hair removal and see how that works.

My doc said that facial hair problem will be solved if my androgen hormone levels go down. Hirsutism is associated with high levels of androgen and this hormone is responsible for hair growing. Although your androgen hormone levels in a normal range, it will take at least 6 months to get rid of hair problem because hair follicles are renewed within 6 months.

Can I just say hahahahahaha your doctor is so wrong it's not even funny. All my hormone results for male hormones have always been "normal" yet I had the worst facial hair. 4 laser treatments in and my hair is like maybe 20% of what it used to be. I've gone from daily shaving to shaving maybe once a week. And the hairs that come out are mostly thinner, just a few stubborn dark ones but even those are lighter/thinner than before.

If you've got a hairy problem, get laser hair removal. I used to work in a cosmetic clinic. I got it done on my bikini line. Its the best value for money treatment around. Avoid razors. Do proper research on your laser treatment. Ring up a few clinics. Talk to them about the treatment regime and tell you to tell you everything.

the hair grows back but it takes years and it never gets as thick as it was. For small areas of the body its not a huge investment and it will make you a lot happier.

Its only suitable for dark hair. its not suitable for dark skins

Though things may have changed somewhat form the time i was around it was the late 90s.

Back then they used to tell people to have a treatment once a month but you don't need it quite that often. Read up about the growth cycle of hair, particularly of the area you want to have treated. If you understand this part properly, you may be able to save money from clinics who are trying to over treat you.

Weight loss did not fix my hair problem. The pill did help with the intensity... and I had laser hair removal done.

I cannot stress this enough, do not do laser unless you plan on either never going on the pill or never going off the pill. I restarted the pill and the hair is back in all full glory. My laser hair assistant said that often happens with a big hormone change such as starting or stopping birth control. I pretty much flushed all my money away.

I did electrolysis for years,hair always returned. I ordered a permanent at home laser hair remover called Tria laser,it costs $500 and i have been using it for 3 months.You use it weekly and it is working very well but does take time,it has 5 settings and I started low and increased. Some stinging pain but it is working,hair is dramatically reduced and still in progress. HSN had it on 3 easy payments.Well worth the money.

my hirsutism was really bad even when i did take spiro, met and ocps, it didnt get better until i did laser treatments and most of the hair in legs and arms didnt grow back, just some scattered thick ones that the laser lady missed. but nothing like before because my hairs would come out in THREEs, like three hairs clumped it was weird, like were one hair was supposed to be well I had three together all over thighs and legs.. anyway, it hurt a lot on legs because thats where they were threes but thats were it worked most. on my face and neck i have some too but way less than before, now they are thinner and more scattered so its good. i recommend laser. its expensive and a bit embarrassing because i am sure i was the only customer who was a woman and getting neck and face done, the technicians looked at me funny... but the stares were worth it because now i dont cry myself to sleep anymore because i was growing a beard. if you have pcos it might not get rid of all the hairs forever but it does diminish them. for me laser was the only thing that worked.

I've been thinking of trying the Tria at home laser... mixed reviews on it, plus never know when the good reviews are fake.

I've also read saw palmetto, and most recently read up on N-acetylcysteine supplement is good for PCOS and treating excess hair. I guess they would be good to use with the laser to prevent the regrowth of hormonal hair growth. Anyone try/use these?

To add, I've lost quite a bit of weight these last few months, I think I'm within 10-20 pounds of my goal weight now. I've cut out alot of carbs and processed foods. I still have alot of facial hair though, hasn't reduced. Basically I have a blondish beard, with some darker hair on my upper lip and chin/neck.

Figured I'd post back here... I decided to try N-acetylcysteine..it's pretty cheap and it's good for a bunch of things (health and beauty wise) and supposed to be safe.. I think it might actually be helping with the facial hair growth. Hair seems to be growing in slower and not as much...

I use an epilator on my face/chin/upper lip and usually within a week I start to feel a bunch of stubble coming in on my chin/neck. Now it seems to not to be growing back so fast, making it a little easier to tweeze the few that come in. Not going to say it's a miracle or that I'm completely hair free, but any little improvement is better than before.

Study on NAC on women with PCOS took it for 6 months, so I'll see, maybe better improvements ahead. Also to add, I don't know if I have actual PCOS, I've never been offically diagnosed, but I have the facial hair.

Laser hair removal changed my life. When I was a teenager I had such bad hair on my face and it doesn't help that I'm indian so we're hairier than others. It used to grow really thick and really visible, and I used to bleach the fine hairs but do electrolysis on the thick hairs. Eventually i moved onto laser and although 10 years on i'm still doing it, at least the hair disappears for a while, depending on how my hormones are behaving. I find that I need to shave the area once every 5 days or so, but at least I don't have those horrible thick hairs I used to have when I was a teenager.